Amid senators’ glee at being mentioned on Russia’s list of sanctioned U.S. officials, there is some mystery: Why these nine people?

The Russian foreign ministry said its sanctions were introduced “on the basis of reciprocity,” essentially a tit-for-tat action in light of U.S. sanctions against Russians. But it didn’t say why these folks, specifically. “We have repeatedly warned that using sanctioning instruments is a double-edged thing that would hit the U.S. back like a boomerang,” the ministry said in a statement on its website. “Speaking with our country in this kind of language, as Washington has more than once seen, is inappropriate and counterproductive.”

The list bans nine Americans from entry to Russia. Given that the Russians aren’t saying why they chose these folks, we’ve made our own guesses.

Sen. Robert Menendez (D., N.J.). He is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which last week approved an aid package for Ukraine and sanctions on Russia. In a March 11 op-ed in the Washington Post, he wrote that Russia’s “troubling pattern of behavior . . . cannot continue unchecked.”

Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.). McCain was one of seven senators who traveled to Ukraine last week, and he has been an outspoken critic of Russia’s activity there. But none of the other six senators on the Ukraine trip were mentioned. That leads us to believe it may have something to do with his New York Times op-ed last week in which he called Vladimir Putin’s Russia a “brutish, cynical place, where power is worshipped, weakness is despised, and all rivalries are zero-sum.”

House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio). Speaking of name-calling, Mr. Boehner called the Russian leader a “thug,” and has also advocated for ramping up U.S. natural gas exports to reduce dependence on Russia.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.), who has spent more time lately criticizing the Koch brothers and has been compared to Mr. Putin by Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.), seems to be on the list because of his Senate position. He tweeted: “President Putin, it’s one thing to pick on me, but I wouldn’t mess with Mary.” (Keep reading.)

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D., La.). The new chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee may have been chosen for her advocacy of increased U.S. energy exports to reduce dependence on Russian energy. However, we think it’s more likely that she was named for sharply criticizing the Russian government for stopping American adoptions of Russian children. Last year she called Russia’s children’s rights ombudsman, Pavel Astakhov, an “ass.” (That, or her campaign and Mr. Putin are in cahoots—Ms. Landrieu is facing a tough re-election campaign and she says being on the list is a “badge of honor.”)

Sen. Dan Coats (R., Ind.) may be the biggest mystery. He’s an Indiana’s senator in the minority party. But he is on the Intelligence Committee and earlier this month he called Mr. Putin a “bully who has taken over the playground.” Mr. Coats has written a number of op-eds urging the U.S. to implement stronger sanctions against Russia, writing in the IndyStar that “conflicts grow from small beginnings.” He also introduced a resolution to condemn Russia’s activity in Crimea – but his cosponsor, Sen. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.), who also traveled to Ukraine last week with Sen. McCain, isn’t on the list.

Among the non-lawmakers mentioned, Russia’s methods were similarly a mystery.

Caroline Atkinson is a deputy national security adviser for international and economic affairs to President Obama. She helped coordinate the administration’s response to the Euro Zone crisis and is the president’s main representative to the Group of Eight economic summits. Although, it’s really the G-7 now since every other member nation has said it likely won’t attend the next G-8 meeting because it’s in . . . Russia.

Ben Rhodes is a deputy national security adviser to the president and helps write speeches, likely including those decrying Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

Daniel Pfeiffer has appeared on network television to emphasize that the U.S. does not recognize the results of the Crimean vote to secede from Ukraine. He, like Mr. Rhodes, is also one of the president’s longest serving aides and is part of the hard-to-crack inner circle of the White House.

The U.S. is not alone in its confusion. The Kremlin-run The Voice of Russia reported Thursday that Moscow is equally puzzled by the names on Washington’s list of sanctioned officials. “One can say straight away that we are extremely bewildered by the presence of some names on the list,” said Mr. Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, according to the article.

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